Rear admiral's grandson charged with stealing Navy records

Jun. 10, 2014 - 06:00AM
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WASHINGTON — A man who in the 1980s was convicted of espionage and later pardoned for leaking spy satellite photos to a British magazine has been charged with stealing government records related to a famous Naval historian who was his grandfather.

The elder Morison wrote a seminal 15-volume history of naval operations during World War II. A Harvard professor, he was a two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in the biography category. He died in 1976.

Prosecutors say the younger Morison took the files belonging to the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, where he had been a part-time researcher. Prosecutors say approximately 34 boxes of government records were found in his home and that other records he took were being sold on eBay.

If convicted of theft of government property, Morison faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

When reached by telephone Tuesday, Morison referred questions to his attorney but called his grandfather his ďidol.Ē

Morisonís attorney, Jim Wyda, said in an email that he and Morison look forward to addressing the allegations in court.

Morison was convicted in 1985 of leaking three spy satellite photographs to the British military magazine Janeís Defence Weekly. At the time he gave the magazine the photographs, pictures of the Soviet Navyís first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier under construction, he was a civilian employed by the Navy as an intelligence analyst. His attorneys defended Morison by saying he was trying to inform the public about a Soviet naval buildup and didnít disclose anything the Soviets didnít already know.

Morison was sentenced to two years in prison. He was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in 2001.